Tyne Bridge set to close for key inspection work
THE Tyne Bridge is to close to traffic for vital inspections ahead of work starting on its long-overdue restoration.
The iconic bridge will be shut for the £41.4m restoration project announced earlier this year to go ahead.
Engineers will inspect the steelwork about the main roadway on the bridge.
This will see the landmark fully closed to traffic overnight from June 27 until July 1 from 10pm to 6am.
As the Great North Run sign will also be erected during this week there will also be a lane closed in each direction on the bridge from 8pm – before the full closure comes into force each evening.
The shared footpath and cycle path on the bridge’s west side will remain open to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross.
The council has also announced lane restrictions will be in place the following week – July 4-8 – which will see the southbound lane and a footpath closed between 9.30am and 3.30pm.
Those closures are so engineers can inspect the steelwork during daylight.
There will also be a lane closed northbound from 6.30pm to 6.30am between July 4 to July 8.
There will be diversions in place but drivers are asked to allow more time for their journeys.
More road closures leading up to the
bridge on both sides and underneath it will be required, the council said.
Ahead of the inspection works the central motorway will be closed overnight on June 26. That will be between 4am and 11am and will apply to the area from Cowhill Overbridge to the Pilgrim Street roundabout.
Coun Jane Byrne, the councillor with responsibility for transport in the city, said this will be the “most disruptive element” of the first phase of work.
Highlighting how the bridge is used by 70,000 vehicles a day, she said the council had worked hard with contractors to plan work which will reduce the impact on people getting around.
She said: “The scale of work required means there will need to be closures in place as we carry out this vital inspection work safely and efficiently,.
“We really hope people bear with us as we need to get this work underway for government to release funding so we can restore our magnificent Tyne Bridge to its former glory.”
The Government’s £35.3m cash injection for the restoration project came with the strict condition that inspections like these took place.
Work to revamp the bridge and central motorway is due to begin later this year – and Newcastle and Gateshead councils and Esh Construction have committed to carrying out the work in consultation with wildlife groups to protect the kittiwake colony which nests in the bridge.